Community Corner
Youth employment program
The Grundy-Kendall Regional Office of Education (GKROE) has openings in their free youth employment program which helps 16-21 year old youth find jobs and prepare for careers. The program also helps high school dropouts pass the GED.
The program is entering its 4th year operating out of the Yorkville office of GKROE, 109 W. Ridge Street, Yorkville and is funded by the River Valley Workforce Investment Board
Cintia Diaz, 19, of Plano enrolled in the program in January 2013 for help in getting her GED and for help in obtaining a job. Cintia regularly attended one-on-one tutoring sessions and completed homework between sessions. Following the advice of her teacher, she at first prepared for the reading, social studies, and science parts of the GED test; she passed those three tests in April and then began to focus on math and writing.
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In May, Cintia passed the math and writing parts of the GED test, but she was still 20 points short in her overall GED score. Having decided to retake both the science and math parts of the test in June to increase her scores, Cintia religiously studied GED materials with the help of the program’s tutor. In the tests taken in June, she improved her scores by an astonishing 150 points to earn her GED diploma.
“I was so excited to hear I raised my GED score by 150 points,” said Diaz. “I felt confident during the test, but I didn’t know I would do that well.”
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In March, the program set up Cintia in subsidized employment at Hillside Rehab and Care in Yorkville. Cintia performed well in her job as a Housekeeping Associate and was hired directly by Hillside in June.
To be eligible for the youth employment program, youth must be 16-21 years of age, must either meet (or be an exception) to low household income guidelines, and have at least one barrier to employment such a being a high school dropout, being a parent, being on court probation, or being deficient in math or reading.
For more information on the program, call Mark or Laura at (630) 553-4166 or send an email to yep@roe24.org.
